New hospital aftercare service for homeless people

Homeless charity St Mungo's has created a hospital aftercare service for homeless people in need of help.

Research undertaken by homeless charities St Mungo's and Homeless Link have found that only a third of homeless people in hospital received help with their homelessness. They found that many who were discharged ended up being straight back onto the streets without any of their housing or health issues being addressed. Consequently this resulted in worsening health and readmission to hospital.

The London Homeless Hospital Discharge Network has been give £3.6m funding from the Department of Health as part of its £10m national boost for hospital aftercare for homeless people, reports 24dash.

The service will begin by providing an initial 24 beds and then move up to 40 across the London area in existing St Mungo's hostels. A team of nurses and psychologists will work alongside health and housing support workers to help the person move on after their treatment.

Charles Fraser, St Mungo's chief executive, said: "We need to ensure that homeless people can have access to the care they need. We want to improve health outcomes significantly for homeless people but we also anticipate better use of health services which will potentially reduce costs."

Public Health Minister Jane Ellison visited one of the hostels to see how the service will help homeless people. She said: "This excellent new facility at St Mungo's will give us a good understanding of how best to stop the revolving door for homeless people and make sure they don't leave hospital without proper care plans in place."

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